US health regulators have approved Roche's arthritis drug Actemra for emergency use to treat hospitalised coronavirus patients, giving an extra boost to a medicine that was already allowed to be administered on compassionate grounds, Reuters reports.

The drug can be used to treat patients who are receiving systemic corticosteroids and require supplemental oxygen, non-invasive or invasive mechanical ventilation, or extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, the US Food and Drug Administration said.